memeorandum: GOP Leaders Not Confident They Have Votes to Pass Health Bill (Bloomberg)

2:15 PM ET, March 24, 2017

Top Items:

A Brave Front, but Regrets? On Health Bill, Trump Has a Few — WASHINGTON — President Trump, the author of “The Art of the Deal,” has been projecting his usual bravado in public this week about the prospects of repealing the Affordable Care Act. Privately he is grappling with rare bouts of self-doubt.

Discussion: NPR, Washington Monthly, Business Insider, Vox, Talking Points Memo, The Resurgent, Axios, New York Magazine, Occupy Democrats, BillMoyers.com, Daily Kos, No More Mister Nice Blog, Salon, Politico, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Reuters, NBC News and Common Dreams

Gabriel Sherman / New York Magazine:

Why Steve Bannon Might Be the Winner of the GOP's Health-Care Civil War — With hours to go before the House is set to (finally) vote on Paul Ryan's health-care bill, the Trump administration is putting a full-court press on recalcitrant Republicans to rally votes.

Discussion: Breitbart, Talking Points Memo, Axios, Business Insider and The Rush Limbaugh Show

New York Times:

Paul Ryan Rushes to White House to Tell Trump Votes Are Lacking to Repeal Obamacare — WASHINGTON — House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, facing a revolt among conservative and moderate Republicans, rushed to the White House Friday afternoon to inform President Trump he did not have the votes …

Bloomberg:

White House Preparing to Blame Ryan If Health Bill Fails, Official Says — But Trump says ‘yes’ when asked if Ryan should remain speaker — Legislation advances toward crucial House vote on Friday — In public, President Donald Trump is standing by House Speaker Paul Ryan over the Obamacare replacement bill.

Discussion: Daily Kos, TheBlaze and Hot Air

Bloomberg:

GOP Leaders Not Confident They Have Votes to Pass Health Bill — Speaker Ryan heading to White House to brief president — House vote is scheduled to be held on Friday afternoon — House GOP leaders aren't confident they have enough votes to pass their embattled health-care bill …

Discussion: ABC News, RedState, CNBC, The Daily Caller, Political Wire, The Guardian, CBS Philly and Talking Points Memo

Axios:

Healthcare bill might get yanked from House floor — The prospect of pulling the ObamaCare replacement bill is now a matter of discussion among House leaders, according to sources familiar with the conversations. As House Speaker Paul Ryan heads to the White House to brief the President …

Veronica Stracqualursi / ABC News:

The Note: The health care ultimatum — The big story: So there is a law of political physics that applies to Donald Trump after all. Actually, this one is basic math, in that House leaders and the White House have never had the majority they assumed they could get, as we approach today's showdown.

Discussion: Politico, Vox, Business Insider, Raw Story and Talking Points Memo

Daniel Lippman / Politico:

THE BIG DAY: TRUMP's risky bet, THE STAKES, the vote count — and more — SCHUMER prepared for SCOTUS nuclear showdown — FIRST LOOK: this week's ‘Circus’ — JARED and IVANKA in Aspen — B'DAY: Steve Ballmer — Listen to Playbook in 90 Seconds http://bit.ly/2nPr9u7 ... Subscribe on iTunes http …

Asawin Suebsaeng / The Daily Beast:
Bannon Tells Trump: ‘Keep a S**t List’ of Republicans Who Opposed You

Discussion: Raw Story

Adam Davidson / New Yorker:
What the G.O.P. Doesn't Get About Who Pays for Health Care

Discussion: The Atlantic, Daily Kos and Vox

CNN:
Ryan visiting Trump, not delivering good news on health care

Discussion: Hot Air

Mike DeBonis / Washington Post:
GOP health-care bill: Ryan visits White House to say he lacks support for health-care bill

Discussion: ABC News, Refinery29, Daily Wire, Political Insider blog, Business Insider, Associated Press, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, AOL and TheBlaze

Reuters:
High stakes for Trump as vote looms on Republican health plan

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Washington Free Beacon

James Hohmann / Washington Post:
The Daily 202: Trump's health care ultimatum is straight out of ‘The Art of the Deal.’ It just might work.

Discussion: Politico, The Mahablog, New York Magazine, Daily Kos, KTLA, Booman Tribune, Power Line and Hot Air

Axios:
The state of Trumpcare: Failure is an option

Discussion: Slate and Forbes

Fox News:

Potential ‘smoking gun’ showing Obama administration spied on Trump team, source says — Republican congressional investigators expect a potential “smoking gun” establishing that the Obama administration spied on the Trump transition team, and possibly the president-elect himself …

Katie Bo Williams / The Hill:

Nunes: Manafort volunteered to interview with Intel panel … President Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort has volunteered to interview with the House Intelligence Committee's probe of Russia's interference in last year's election, Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) announced Friday.

Discussion: ABC News, Infowars, Towleroad, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit, TheBlaze, TalkLeft and Raw Story

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:
Nunes: I Had ‘Duty’ To Brief Trump Since He's ‘Taking Lot Of Heat’ In Media

Discussion: Daily Kos

Mike Levine / ABC News:
Intel chair Devin Nunes unsure if Trump associates were directly surveilled

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Business Insider, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, RT, Raw Story, Politico, Hullabaloo, Mediaite, Patterico's Pontifications, RedState, Political Wire, The Daily Caller and CNN

Austin Wright / Politico:
Nunes: Manafort has agreed to be interviewed by House intel committee

Discussion: Mother Jones, The Hill, ABC News, Washington Post, Common Dreams, Occupy Democrats, CNBC and Towleroad

Peter Hoekstra / Wall Street Journal:
Did Obama Abuse Raw Intelligence?

Discussion: New York Times, The Hill and Washington Post

CNN:
Manafort volunteers for questionings at House intel committee

Discussion: RedState and Joe.My.God.

CNN:
Schiff: New evidence shows possible Trump-Russia collusion

Discussion: Political Wire

Nicholas Bagley / The Incidental Economist:

Confusion over essential health benefits — The post has been revised to take into account feedback on how best to understand the manager's amendment. — Last night, House Republicans released the text of the final manager's amendment to the American Health Care Act …

Discussion: Hit & Run, Hot Air, Balloon Juice, Common Dreams, Health Affairs Blog, Talking Points Memo, CBO's Publications, Vox, Los Angeles Times and Mother Jones

Rodney Frelinghuysen:

Statement of Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (NJ-11) — American Health Care Act — March 24, 2017 — “Seven years after enactment of Obamacare, I wanted to support legislation that made positive changes to rescue healthcare in America. — “Unfortunately, the legislation before the House today …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, CNBC, Politicus USA and Joe.My.God.

Talking Points Memo:
What's In The Health Care Bill Changes Unveiled Late Last Night

Discussion: Mother Jones, Roll Call, Health Affairs Blog and Vox

Madeline Farber / Fortune:
The GOP Health Care Bill Would Require New Moms on Medicaid to Find Work 60 Days after Childbirth

Discussion: Daily Kos and ThinkProgress

CNN:
Live updates: Health care bill drama and Trump

Discussion: TheStreet

Dan Alexander / Forbes:

After Promising Not To Talk Business With Father, Eric Trump Says He'll Give Him Financial Reports — Eric Trump sits behind a desk on the 25th floor of Trump Tower in New York City, dressed in a slightly less formal version of his father's go-to power uniform—blue suit, white buttoned-down shirt, no tie.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Politico, Political Wire and Business Insider

US Department of State:

Issuance of Presidential Permit to TransCanada for Keystone XL Pipeline — The Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs has issued a Presidential permit to TransCanada Keystone Pipeline, L.P. ("TransCanada") authorizing TransCanada to construct, connect, operate, and maintain pipeline facilities …

Discussion: The Hill, CNBC, naked capitalism, NPR, IJR, The Daily Caller, The Guardian, Bloomberg and FOX31 Denver

Timothy Cama / The Hill:
Trump approves Keystone pipeline

Discussion: Mother Jones, The Guardian and Towleroad

Matthew Guariglia / MuckRock:

The same billionaire that funded Trump's campaign bankrolled Milo's college speaking tour — University of Washington records confirm Yiannopoulos' speaking fee as zero dollars, and entirely self-financed — Over the last year, Breitbart's former ethno-nationalist troll-provocateur got …

Discussion: Heat Street

Media Matters for America:

The Life Cycle Of A Donald Trump Lie — On March 4, President Donald Trump declared himself the victim of a scandal on the level of the the Watergate crimes that brought down President Richard Nixon. In an early-morning tweetstorm apparently triggered by reading a Breitbart article …

Discussion: Washington Post, Hullabaloo, PolitiFact and Raw Story, more at Mediagazer »

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:

Mulvaney: If Your State Doesn't Mandate Maternity Care, Change Your State — Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, one of the top administration officials who had been working to pass the bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, on Friday morning brushed off concerns …

Discussion: Shakesville, Daily Kos, The Root and bradford-delong.com

Philip Bump / Washington Post:

The Republican health-care proposal is breathtakingly unpopular — We'll start with the bad news for House Speaker Paul D. Ryan. — A new Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday shows that the American Health Care Act, the Republican bill championed by Ryan and due for a vote any minute now, is severely unpopular.